Snubber



SNUBBER Filed. June l5, 1945 INVENTOR.

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Patented Jan. 31, 1950 SNUBBER Walter L. Schlegel, Jr., Chicago, Ill., assignor to American Steel Foundries, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of New Jersey Application June 15, 1945, serial No. 599,700

1 Claim.

My invention relates to a friction device and more particularly to such a device called a snubber and utilized in conjunction with a bolstersupporting 'coil spring group associated with a railway car truck for dampening the harmonic action of the spring group.

An object of my invention is to design a snubber of the above described type which may be substituted for one of the coil springs constituting the spring group.

Another object of my invention is to design a friction device or snubber that is composed of relatively few parts, is easily assembled, inexpensive to manufacture, and is efficient in us and capable of long life in service.

Another object of my invention is to provide a snubber comprising a housing follower receiving associated friction shoes actuated into frictional engagement therewith by wedge means housed entirely within the shoes and operatively engaging the same.

My snubber contemplates a structure in which a cylindrical housing follower affords a seat for one end of a coil or load spring sleeved thereover,

the opposite end of said spring being seatedagainst base flanges on a pair of associated friction shoes received within and in frictional engagement with an internal friction surface of the follower, said shoes having spaced wedges with resilient means compressed therebetween operatively urging each wedge into engagement with a wedge surface at respective ends of each shoe.

Other objects of the invention will be more clearly apparent from the following description.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional view taken in a vertical plane bisecting my novel snubber as indicated by the line I-I of Figure 2, and Figure 2 is a top view of the device shown in Figure 1, the left half thereof being a plan view, and the right half thereof being a sectional view taken substantially in the horizontal plane indicated by the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a plan view of one of the wedges utilized in the device, and Figure 4 is a side elevation thereof.

Describing my invention in detail, my novel snubber comprises the housing follower generally designated 2 comprising al substantially annular disclike base 4 adapted to seat against an associated supporting member, as will be clearly apparent to those skilled in the art, the base 4 having a central opening 8 formed and arranged for the reception of positioning means on the supporting member.

Integrally formed with the base 4 is an upstanding substantially cylindrical barrel I0, said barrel comprising the internal cylindrical friction surface I2 formed and arranged for frictional engagement with complementary surfaces on the associated friction shoes and relieved as at I4` to prevent the wearing of shoulders on said barrel, as will be clearly apparent to those skilled in the art.

A pair of substantially identical friction shoes generally designated I6, I6 are received Within the barrel I0, each of said shoes comprising a main body portion I8 of generally curved cross section having a substantially cylindrical friction face 20 formed and arranged for complementary frictional engagement as at 22 with the surface I2 on the housing follower 2. The body portion I8 of each shoe is provided with an outwardly projecting horizontal and substantially semiannular base flange 24 affording a seat as at 26 for an associated supported member, each of said flanges 24 being formed to provide a semicylindrical recess or socket 28 for receiving positioning means on an associated supported member, as will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art.

A coiled compression spring 3U is sleeved over the barrel I0 and body portions I8, I8 of the shoes I6, I6 and is seated at opposite ends thereof as at 32 against the base 4 of the housing follower 2 and at 34 against the base anges 24, 24 of the friction shoes.

The body portion I8 of each shoe 'is inwardly enlarged at its lower extremity to provide a wedge portion or ledge 36 having a diagonally disposed arcuate or semicylindrical surface 4U and is also inwardly enlarged at its upper extremity adjacent the flange 24 to provide a wedge portion or ledge 42 having a diagonal arcuate surface 44 angularly disposed with respect to the surface 40, said surfaces 40 and 44 converging toward the barrel I0 of the follower 2. c.

The ledges 36, as best seen in Figure 1, are formed on their lower surfaces with generous at bearing areas facing the base 4 and adapted for engagement therewith to limit compression of the device.

Disposed interiorly of the friction shoes I6, I6 is a pair of identical wedges 46 and 48, each wedge being a substantially solid member and comprising at opposite sides thereof diagonal arcuate surfaces 50, 5I) formed and arranged for frictional engagement with the complementary wedge surfaces 40 or 44 on respective shoes I5, I6 as at 52, the wedges being held tightly against said surfaces 40 and 44 by means of a coil spring 54 seated at opposite ends against the wedges as at 56 and positioned thereon by a positioning boss 58 received within the spring 54. It may be noted that the friction surfaces 50, 50 on each wedge are each of substantially constant radius from the top to the bottom thereof, whereby, as relative movement takes place between the Wedges 46 and 48 and the shoes I6, I6, the complementary engaging faces of the shoes and Wedges will be along a constant radius affording constant engagement of the faces and permitting unrestricted movement of the wedges axially of the device despite the occurrence of wear of the faces.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that, in the operation of the device, relative movement of the follower 2 and the shoes I6, IE will be resisted by the frictional resistance between the follower 2 and the shoes I6, IE caused by the shoes being constantly wedged apart by the wedges 46 and 48 under the inuence of the spring 54 to thereby effect a substantially constant amount of frictional resistance during the contraction and expansion of the device. It may also be noted that in my novel snubber the Wedges and their actuating spring are entirely housed within the shoes and perform their function without the necessity of employing an external actuating means acting in conjunction therewith with possible resultant undesirable compressive stresses being placed on the spring causing its breakage under service conditions.

It is to be understood that I do not wish to be limited by the exact embodiment of the device shown which is merely by way of illustration and not limitation as various and other forms of the device will, of course, be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claim.

I claim:

A snubber adapted to support a bolster member from a frame member of a railway car truck,

4 said snubber comprising a housing follower iiicludng an annular base and a cylindrical barrel integrally formed therewith and merging with said base intermediate its radially inner and outer perimeters, a pair of cylindrical shoes in said barrel having complementary cylindrical face engagement with the inner surface thereof, the inner ends of the shoes having projections extending toward the longitudinal axis of the barrel, and said shoes having ledges externally of the barrel projecting toward said axis, the shoes being formed with integral flanges aligned with the portion of said base externally of the barrel, said flanges and the outer surfaces of said ledges dening a socket for the reception of positioning means on one of said members, a pair of wedges, each having converging arcuate surfaces, the surfaces of one wedge being engaged with complementary arcuate faces of respective projections converging toward the base, and the surfaces of the other wedge being engaged with complementary arcuate faces of respective ledges converging toward said socket, a coil spring compressed between said wedges, and a single coil spring sleeved over the barrel, the ends of the last-mentioned coil spring being seated'respectively against the base and the flanges.

WALTER L. SCHLEGEL, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,169,863 Peycke Feb.1, 1916 1,883,049 Sproul Oct. 18, 1932 1,961,406 Tucker June 5, 1934 1,985,369 Fuchs Dec. 25, 1934 2,156,779 Duryea May 2, 1939 2,182,917 Dentler Dec. 12, 1939 2,216,231 Dentler Oct. 1, 1940 

